Development of a framework for Poka-Yoke system performance assessment during the service design for attaining leanness

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to develop a framework for assessing the futuristic Poka-Yoke system performance of service businesses toward attaining leanness during their design phase considering various factors enhancing Poka-Yoke system performance. The paper also attempts to validate the framework by implementing it in the service business of pathology laboratories.

Design/methodology/approach Various factors and subfactors that enhance Poka-Yoke system performance are identified through literature. A structural methodology based on graph theory and matrix approach is applied to developing the Poka-Yoke system performance index (PYSPI). The Poka-Yoke enhancing factors and their interrelations, with due consideration of their structure, are modeled through graph theory. The performance factor digraph is defined; the nodes of this represent the Poka-Yoke enhancing factors, while the edges represent their degrees of interrelationship. The equivalent matrix of the digraph forms a Poka-Yoke system performance function that will yield the evolution of the PYSPI.